40143EDINBURGH (Reuters) - British security company G4S sought to reassure investors that was on track to meet its full-year debt target on Tuesday, adding that its expects to increase its free cash flow on growing demand for its electronic cash management systems.

The world's largest security group, which has overhauled itself after a string of high-profile contract problems in Britain, said it expects to meet a net debt-to-core earnings (EBITDA) ratio of 2.5 times or lower by the end of 2017. The ratio was 3.2 times as of June 30.

It added that its new cash management programmes, Cash360 and Deposita, were expected to provide "significant ongoing revenues" to the group.

The company's unscheduled statement came after broker BNP Exane cut its earnings per share estimates by 1 percent for this year and by 4 percent for next, saying that "guidance that the first half inflow is unlikely to carry through to the full-year". Exane left its target price unchanged at 195 pence but the shares fell around 5 percent on Monday.

A G4S spokesman declined to comment.

Britain's outsourcers are under greater scrutiny in the wake of the country's vote to leave the European Union because they have signalled that it has slowed down their clients' decision-making processes.

This has left those with a bigger exposure to the UK, such as Capita and Mitie, more vulnerable while G4S and Serco are protected by operations overseas.

The firm appears to have put behind it a series of scandals, including being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office for overcharging the government to provide electronic tags for offenders, some of whom turned out to have been in jail or dead.

Shares in the group were down 1 percent at 229.2 pence versus a 0.2 percent decline in Britain's FTSE index.

(Reporting by Elisabeth O'Leary, editing by Louise Heavens)

]]>By Sankalp Phartiyal and Tanvi Mehta

MUMBAI/BENGALURU (Reuters) - Fashion portal Myntra, part of India's top e-commerce group Flipkart, aims to use smart technology such as artificial intelligence to enhance consumer experience as it looks to drive growth and turn profitable in the next fiscal year.

India's e-commerce market is forecast to grow to $188 billion in a decade as more and more of its 1.2 billion people log on to smartphones and PCs in the world's fastest-growing internet services market.

Players such as Flipkart and Myntra took a page out of Amazon's playbook to offer cash-burning discounts when they launched in 2007 but are now increasingly tailoring their products and experiences to capture a burgeoning Indian market.

Enhancing the consumer experience through technology is key to driving long-term growth, Ambarish Kenghe, Myntra's head of product told Reuters in a telephone interview on Thursday.

"This is a little bit like a (cricket) test match - you stay on the pitch and the runs will come," Kenghe said.

"Create great consumer experiences and things will move."

Bengaluru-based Myntra, which was acquired by Flipkart in 2014, is using customer data to create personalised stores, and curating clothing lines based on fashion trends.

Myntra will also launch a mobile app-based chat support service for customers next week to enable users and brands listed on the portal to interact, helping personalise the experience for shoppers.

Most innovation will trickle down from the app to the desktop as the mobile phone is the firm's primary business channel, contributing about 80-85 percent to revenues, Narayanan said.

Myntra executives said the company expects to turn profitable in the fiscal year 2017-18 and was aiming to double its annualized gross merchandise value (GMV) to $2 billion by March 2018, from an annualized $1 billion currently.

Myntra, Jabong and Flipkart together account for 70 percent of the online fashion market in India.

(Editing by Keith Weir)

]]>(Adds company news item)

Nov 30 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 index is seen opening about 2points lower or almost flat in percentage terms on Wednesday, according tofinancial bookmakers, with futures up 0.1 percent ahead of the cashmarket open.

* The UK blue chip index closed down 0.4 percent on Tuesday at 6,772,underperforming other European markets as energy and mining stocks were hit byweaker oil and metals prices.

* BRITVIC: British soft drinks firm Britvic said its full-yearadjusted EBITA rose 8.4 percent, mainly as the company expanded its business inBrazil and on better sales in the UK.

* RBS: Royal Bank of Scotland must boost its capital buffers afterfailing this year's stress test of seven British lenders, the Bank of Englandsaid on Wednesday.

* ZOOPLA: Property website Zoopla reported a 38 percent increasein annual pretax profit on Wednesday and said it was well placed to withstandany negative impact caused by the Brexit vote.

* SAGE: Software company Sage met forecasts with a 9 percent rise infull-year operating profit to 427 million pounds ($532 million), helped by arise in subscription sales of its programmes that help small enterprises managetheir businesses.

* TCS GROUP: Russian consumer lender TCS Group made a net profit of2.9 billion roubles ($44.6 million) in the third quarter, it said on Wednesday,beating analysts' forecasts and setting a new record financial result.

* IG GROUP: Online trading company IG Group Holdings Plc said itcontinued to perform in line with expectations, after a "strong" second quarter.

* RPC GROUP: British packaging company RPC Group Inc reported a 53percent rise in its first-half revenue, helped by recent acquisitions, strongerperformance across the board and weak sterling.

* BP: Mexico hopes to award at least four of the 10 deep water oil blocksdue to be auctioned next week, plus the farm-out on its Trion field, EnergyMinister Pedro Joaquin Coldwell said on Tuesday. British oil major BP isone of the companies pre-qualified to bid on the initial deep water tenders onDec. 5.

* SKY: Sky said it would enter the UK mobile market with a SIM-onlydeal that allows data allowances to roll over each month, and offers free callsto the 11 million British households that take its TV services.

* SMITHS GROUP: George Buckley, chairman of engineering company Smiths Group, was approached about replacing Cyrus Mistry, who was removed aschairman of Tata Sons last month, Sky News reported on Tuesday. http://bit.ly/2gCzrkP

* VODAFONE: A cyber attack that infected nearly 1 million routers used toaccess Deutsche Telekom internet service was part of a campaigntargeting web-connected devices around the globe, the German government andsecurity researchers said on Tuesday. Vodafone Group Plc uses routersthat were vulnerable to similar attacks, a cyber security researcher said.

* UK CONSUMER CONFIDENCE: Confidence among British consumers fell inNovember to its lowest level since just after voters decided in June to leavethe European Union as worries about the economy grew, a survey showed onWednesday.

* TOBACCO FIRMS: Philip Morris International, the world's largestinternational tobacco company, could eventually stop selling cigarettes, itschief executive told the BBC on Wednesday, as it launched its alternativeproduct IQOS in the UK market.

* BREXIT: Brexit-related tariffs would add at least 4.5 billion pounds ($5.6billion) a year to the cost of car imports and exports between Britain and theEuropean Union, industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traderssaid, urging Britain to remain in the single market after it leaves the EU.

* OIL: Oil markets edged up in nervous trading on Wednesday ahead of an OPECmeeting later in the day, with members of the producer cartel trying to thrashout an output cut to curb oversupply that has seen prices more than halve since2014.

* METALS: Shanghai metals came under heavy selling pressure on Wednesday,with zinc, copper and lead down more than five percent as worries about a cashcrunch in China were compounded by ShFE measures to curb a searing rally insteel.

* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets

TODAY'S UK PAPERS

> Financial Times

> Other business headlines Multimedia versions of Reuters Top News are now available for: * 3000 Xtra : visit http://topnews.session.rservices.com * For Top News : http://topnews.reuters.com (Reporting by Pranav Kiran in Bengaluru; Editing by Sunil Nair)

]]>By Siddharth Cavale

REUTERS - Shoppers spent $3.45 billion on Cyber Monday on Samsung 4K TVs, PlayStation 4s and Barbie dolls among other products, marking the largest online sales day in U.S. history.

The data compiled by Adobe Digital Insights, easily surpassed prior estimates, and dismissed fears that strong web sales during the Thanksgiving weekend would hurt sales on Cyber Monday - the busiest day of the year for internet shopping historically.

It also underscored the broader shift to shopping online, which is making up for slower spending in stores.

Cyber Monday sales jumped 12.1 percent year-over-year and surpassed initial expectations that called for total sales of $3.36 billion, according to Adobe Digital Insights.

Top-selling electronics by units on the day include Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox gaming consoles as well as Samsung 4K TVs, Apple iPhones and Amazon's Fire tablets.

Adobe collects the data by measuring 80 percent of all online transactions from the top 100 U.S. retailers. Of every $10 spent at the top 500 U.S. retailers, $7.50 goes through the Adobe Marketing Cloud sales platform.

(Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)

]]>SEOUL - South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Tuesday it will increase dividends and consider splitting itself, as the tech giant faces possibly the biggest structural change in its 47-year history.

The world's top maker of smartphones, memory chips and televisions, however, said it was "absolutely neutral" about whether to proceed, and provided little detail on the potential restructuring, underwhelming investors and keeping shares flat.

"The review does not indicate the management or the board's intention one way or another," the company said in a statement, adding it hired external advisers for a review that is expected to take at least six months.

The move comes after U.S. activist hedge fund Elliott Management in October called for the firm to split itself into a holding vehicle for ownership purposes and an operating company, and boost shareholder returns.

"There is some disappointment that the dividend wasn't even higher or possibly a special dividend and this is the reason for a flat share price today," said Sat Duhra, asset manager at Henderson Global Investors.

Samsung did not directly address Elliott's proposals on Tuesday, but the firm promised to respond by the end of November.

The company pledged to return 50 percent of free cash flow for 2016 and 2017, versus Elliott's call for up to 75 percent to be returned on top of a $26 billion special dividend.

Samsung also said it was not considering merging its owner vehicle with Samsung C&T Corp, Samsung Group's de facto holding company, even if it were to move to a holding company structure, rejecting another Elliott proposal.

"I don't think Samsung said much that was surprising or beyond what investors had already had in mind," said HDC Asset Management fund manager Park Jung-hoon.

SUCCESSION

Investors and analysts have long viewed a split for Samsung Electronics as a way for Lee family scion Jay Y. Lee and his two sisters to boost their control of South Korea's top conglomerate, the Samsung Group.

While Samsung executives did not comment on potential deal structures, investors believe the Lees and Samsung Group affiliates will exchange their operating company shares for stock in the holding firm, strengthening their grip.

Samsung Electronics would then return more capital to shareholders, investors say. Such a move would boost earnings for Samsung Group firms and the Lee heirs, who face a multi-billion dollar inheritance tax in the event that 74-year-old Samsung Group patriarch Lee Kun-hee passes away. The senior Lee has been in hospital since May 2014 after suffering a heart attack.

Investors have said that Samsung shares trade at steep discounts to global peers due to its complex ownership structure, poor corporate governance and inefficient cash management. The hope is that a major restructuring would address those concerns and boost the company's value.

"We would be satisfied that the company, as with many other Korean corporates, is moving in the right direction in addressing decades of inefficient structures, poor governance and weak corporate behaviour towards minority shareholders," said Duhra at Henderson.

In another nod to investors, Samsung said it would increase dividends for 2016 by 36 percent to 28,500 won ($24.36) per share, and buy back and cancel additional shares in January 2017 with whatever excess free cash remains from 2016.

The firm also said it needed to maintain a net cash position of between 65 trillion won and 70 trillion won, suggesting it is not likely to pay the 30 trillion won special dividend sought by Elliott.

Elliott says Samsung has the highest net cash position and lowest dividend payout ratio compared with its global peers of Qualcomm, Apple and TSMC due to its conservative cash management.

($1 = 1,169.8400 won)

]]>SEOUL - Tech giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Tuesday it will consider whether to transition to a holding company structure, a move long expected as the next succession step for the founding Lee family's heirs.

The world's top maker of smartphones, memory chips and televisions said it was "absolutely neutral" about whether to proceed with what would amount to an unprecedented overhaul of the crown jewel in South Korea's biggest conglomerate.

It said it had hired advisers to help with the planning for a move analysts and investors have long seen as a logical step in the founding Lee family's efforts to achieve stable control of their vast business empire.

"The review does not indicate the management or the board's intention one way or another," the company said in a statement, adding it would take at least six months.

The move comes after U.S. activist hedge fund Elliott Management in October called for the firm to split itself into a holding vehicle for ownership purposes and an operating company, in order to boost shareholder returns.

Investors have said that Samsung shares trade at steep valuations discounts to its global peers due to complex ownership structure, poor corporate governance and inefficient cash management.

Samsung did not directly address the fund's proposals on Tuesday but previously said it would give them careful consideration and respond by the end of November.

Investors and analysts have long viewed such a split as a way for Lee family scion Jay Y. Lee and his two sisters to boost their control of South Korea's top conglomerate, the Samsung Group.

While Samsung executives did not comment on potential deal structures, investors believe the Lees and Samsung Group affiliates will exchange their operating company shares for stock in the holding firm, strengthening their grip.

Samsung Electronics would then return more capital to shareholders, investors say. Such a move would boost earnings for Samsung Group firms and the Lee heirs, who face a multi-billion dollar inheritance tax in the event that 74-year-old Samsung Group patriarch Lee Kun-hee passes away. The senior Lee has been in hospital since May after suffering a heart attack.

"I don't think Samsung said much that was surprising or beyond what investors had already had in mind," said HDC Asset Management fund manager Park Jung-hoon.

"I think they just said enough to meet market expectations, and a lot of that was priced in already so it's a good thing the stock is not falling today."

In another nod to investors, Samsung said it would pay out 50 percent of its free cash flow to shareholders for 2016 and 2017 and 28,500 won ($24.36) per share in total dividends for 2016, up 36 percent from 2015.

It plans to buy back and cancel additional shares in January 2017 with whatever excess free cash remains from 2016.

The firm also said it needed to maintain a net cash position of between 65 trillion won and 70 billion won, suggesting it is not likely to pay the 30 trillion won special dividend sought by Elliott.

($1 = 1,169.8400 won)

]]>SEOUL - South Korean prosecutors raided the offices of Samsung Group on Wednesday, a prosecution official said, after media reports of alleged links with a confidante of President Park Geun-hye who has been indicted in an influence-peddling scandal.

Prosecutors also raided South Korea's largest pension fund, the National Pension Service (NPS), an NPS spokeswoman said. The Yonhap news agency reported that investigators were probing NPS's decision to approve the $8 billion merger of Samsung C&T Corp and Cheil Industries last year.

The raids signalled that prosecutors are expanding their investigation into allegations of influence-peddling in the corruption scandal that has rocked Park's presidency over the relationship between the government and big businesses.

NPS, the world's third-largest pension fund, has come under scrutiny by the media and civic groups over its approval as a major shareholder of the merger between two affiliates of Samsung Group, South Korea's largest family-run conglomerate.

Its backing was seen as crucial to the success of the merger and some South Korean media reports said its approval came under mysterious circumstances.

A Samsung Group spokeswoman confirmed prosecution officials had visited the group's headquarters but she could not provide further details. The NPS spokeswoman declined to give further details.

Prosecutors raided four locations - the NPS headquarters, NPS Investment Management office headquarters, Samsung Group offices and the office of a former NPS investment management official - said a prosecution official who was not authorised to speak to the media and declined to be identified.

Park and her confidante, Choi Soon-sil, are under investigation for allegedly improperly pressuring major conglomerates, including the Samsung Group, to raise funds for foundations that backed Park's policy of promoting the cultural and sports communities.

"DRAWBACKS TO BUSINESS"

Lee Young-ryeol, the senior prosecutor directing the probe, said on Sunday 53 conglomerates, "fearing direct and indirect drawbacks to business activities such as tax audits", were "coerced to contribute funds" to the foundations.

Park Ju-gun, head of research firm CEO Score, said there was little surprise that prosecutors were now seeking evidence in Samsung Group offices about how the merger may have been influenced by the conglomerate's contributions to the foundations.

The merger of the Samsung affiliates was approved by shareholders in July 2015 and prosecutors said the two foundations involved were set up in the following six months.

"This was expected. Due to the circumstances in this case, prosecutors cannot help but be suspicious about the genuine intent behind the donation, such as the timing," CEO Score's Park said.

President Park, through her lawyer, has pushed back on a request by prosecutors to question her about the case, potentially the first time a sitting South Korean president would be interrogated in a criminal case.

Park, who's five-year term ends in February 2018, has resisted calls to resign but has apologised twice, saying she only sought to benefit the economy and not herself, but acknowledges carelessness in her ties with Choi.

However, the growing calls for her to resign and Park's virtual withdrawal from public activities has left a worrying power vacuum in South Korea.

Choi and former presidential aide An Chong-bum were indicted on Sunday and charged with abuse of power, a major blow to the president's fight for political survival.

NPS has defended its decision in the face of criticism that the deal helped the Samsung Group family to cement control of the merged firms at the expense of other shareholders.

"The reason we approved the merger was due to taking a comprehensive view of the merger's synergy effect and potential for stock value increase," it said in a statement last week.

There were "special circumstances" where NPS-owned stakes in both firms were valued at a similar amount, it said. The size of NPS' combined stakes in both firms was about 2.4 trillion won ($2.05 billion), or 3 percent of NPS' domestic stock portfolio.

However, according to records of the NPS Investment Office committee's decision to back the merger in July 2015, acquired by an opposition lawmaker and seen by Reuters, the NPS had calculated a merger ratio of 1:0.46 of Cheil Industries shares to Samsung C&T shares, based on its valuations of the two firms.

This differed from Samsung Group's proposed ratio of 1:0.35, which the NPS committee noted was comparatively unfavourable to Samsung C&T shareholders.

($1 = 1,172.2000 won)

]]>NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Ratan Tata's decision to acquire steelmaker Corus for more than $12 billion, when a year earlier it was available at half the price, went against the reservations of some board members and senior executives, Cyrus Mistry said on Tuesday.

Mistry, who was last month ousted as chairman of Tata Sons, the holding firm for the $100 billion steel-to-software Tata empire, said in a statement that this decision made it harder to invest in the acquired assets and placed jobs at risk.

In the statement Mistry also defended his involvement in growing the revenues and profits at two key group companies, Tata Consultancy Services and Tata Motors, that make up the bulk of Tata's $100 billion revenues.

(Reporting by Aditi Shah; Editing by Douglas Busvine)

]]>* NSE down 0.01 pct; BSE up 0.03 pct

* Financial stocks lead gains

* SBI up 1.2 pct, HCL Tech down

By Samantha Kareen Nair

Nov 17 (Reuters) - Indian shares swung between gains andlosses on Thursday as banks recovered from recent losses,although uncertainty remained about the economic impact of thegovernment's action last week to remove high-value banknotesfrom circulation.

India announced on Thursday some new measures to ease thecash crunch caused by the move, including allowing farmers todraw money from banks against loans sanctioned to them.

The government's move to withdraw larger denominationbanknotes is aimed at cracking down on rampant corruption andcounterfeit currency, stoking concerns about its impact onsmall- and medium-sized enterprises which largely run on cash,which could have a knock-on effect on economic growth.

"Overall, the general market sentiment is down as investorsremain wary and we can see some discretionary spending takingplace due to demonetisation," said Saurabh Jain, assistantvice-president of research at SMC Global Securities.

"A lot of mixed reaction can be expected from sector-basedstocks as we get a clearer picture on who would gain from this(withdrawal of bank notes) move and who would be impacted. Whilegains on the indexes right now will be short term, one canexpect selling to resume soon."

The broader NSE index was down 0.01 percent at 8,111as of 0515 GMT after rising as much as 0.49 percent earlier inthe session.

The benchmark BSE index was 0.03 percent higher at26,306.42 after climbing as much as 0.57 percent earlier.

Engineering company Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd rose as much as 2.9 percent after HSBC Global Research raisedits rating on the stock to "buy" from "reduce".

The NSE bank index rose as much as 1.15 percentafter falling for two straight sessions. Axis Bank gained 1.7 percent while State Bank of India climbed1.2 percent.

Among the losers, some auto and two-wheeler makers, whichare expected to see reduced demand for their products because ofthe banknote measures, fell with Hero MotoCorp declining 1.4 percent.

Meanwhile, HCL Technologies fell as much as 2.4percent after rising in the last two sessions. Wipro declined as much as 2.45 percent. (Reporting by Samantha Kareen Nair in Bengaluru; Editing bySubhranshu Sahu)

]]>MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's IT services sector will likely grow slower than expected this financial year as local and global factors weigh on the outsourcing industry, a leading local industry lobby group said on Wednesday.

Revenue from the sector is likely to grow 8 to 10 percent in constant currency terms in the fiscal year ending March 2017, lower than an earlier forecast of 10 to 12 percent, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) said.

Events such as the U.S. presidential election and Britain's vote to exit the European Union have weighed on the Indian IT outsourcing sector with most of its revenues coming from North America and Europe.

"The industry is going through a transient phase with various domestic and global factors impacting its performance," said NASSCOM President R. Chandrashekhar said in a statement.

"While the effect of various short-term factors may show for a couple more quarters, the worst is behind us," he added.

Infosys Ltd, the country's second-biggest software exporter, cut its annual revenue growth target last month for a second time in three months, as local software service exporters felt the pinch of major Western clients holding back on spending.

However, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd said it would fare better in the next two quarters.

(Reporting by Swati Bhat; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

]]>MUMBAI - India's IT services sector willlikely grow slower than expected this financial year as localand global factors weigh on the outsourcing industry, a leadinglocal industry lobby group said on Wednesday.

Revenue from the sector is likely to grow 8 to 10 percent inconstant currency terms in the fiscal year ending March 2017,lower than an earlier forecast of 10 to 12 percent, the NationalAssociation of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) said.

Events such as the U.S. presidential election and Britain'svote to exit the European Union have weighed on the Indian IToutsourcing sector with most of its revenues coming from NorthAmerica and Europe.

"The industry is going through a transient phase withvarious domestic and global factors impacting its performance,"said NASSCOM President R. Chandrashekhar said in a statement.

"While the effect of various short-term factors may show fora couple more quarters, the worst is behind us," he added.

Infosys Ltd, the country's second-biggest softwareexporter, cut its annual revenue growth target last month for asecond time in three months, as local software service exportersfelt the pinch of major Western clients holding back onspending.

However, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd said itwould fare better in the next two quarters.

The STOXX 600 index rose 0.1 percent, with mining shares, among the best performers this year, droppingfor a second session on the back of falling metal prices.

Hopes of huge fiscal stimulus in the U.S. under DonaldTrump's administration have fueled a rally in bond yields andrate hike expectations, prompting investors to favour financialsover dividend-paying sectors such as utilities or real estate.

But the bond sell-off abated, taking some pressure off theutilities and real estate sectors, which wereamong the best performers in Europe with gains of 1 and 1.5percent respectively.

Rising yields have made dividend paying sectors relativelyless attractive, but financial companies have benefited becausethat eases pressure on their margins. The pause in the bondsell-off prompted profit taking among financial stocks, with thebank sector index down 0.7 percent.

Monte dei Paschi fell 11 percent after the ailingItalian lender announced the terms of a debt-to-equity swap, akey plank of a plan to avoid the bank being wound down.

But shares in British asset manager Intermediate CapitalGroup rose 8.5 percent, the top STOXX 600 gainer, aftersaying that its first half assets rose 2 percent.

Nokia was the biggest faller on the STOXX with a drop of 5.7percent. The company expects its sales to fall around 2 percentnext year, in line with the broader telecoms network businessesin which it operates, but forecasts the market and its ownbusiness will return to modest growth in 2018.

British American Tobacco was up 0.4 percent aftersources said U.S. rival Reynolds American is seeking ahigher price from the British cigarette maker after rejectingits $47 billion takeover offer.

The oil and gas index rose 2.2 percent as oil pricesrallied, bouncing back from multi-month lows on optimism thatOPEC will agree later this month to cut production to reduce asupply glut. (Reporting by Danilo Masoni; Additional reporting by AtulPrakash; Editing by Tom Heneghan)

]]>By Maria Sheahan

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German engineering group Siemens has agreed to buy U.S.-based Mentor Graphics in a $4.5 billion deal that will bolster its industrial software operations and help it keep pace with changes to manufacturing technology.

Siemens will pay Mentor Graphics shareholders $37.25 per share, a 21-percent premium to Friday's closing price, and expects to fund the deal from cash reserves, it said on Monday.

Siemens Chief Executive Joe Kaeser has set out to reshape the group, a household name in Germany, to make it more profitable and agile by selling off non-core businesses and investing in areas such as software that promise faster growth and fatter margins.

Kaeser has so far managed to reassure investors that he will improve on his predecessor Peter Loescher's weak track record on making acquisitions pay off in the longer run.

Mentor Graphics makes software that helps semiconductor companies design and test their chips before they manufacture them and represents Siemens's biggest deal in the industrial software sector since it bought UGS for $3.5 billion in 2007.

Siemens said it now had all software that its customers needed to develop complex electronic machinery such as aeroplanes, trains and cars.

"Our customers are driving a paradigm shift towards more and more complex and smart connected products such as autonomous vehicles," Siemens finance chief Ralf Thomas told analysts and journalists during a conference call on Monday.

"This acquisition is our answer to this development," he added.

Baader Helvea analyst Guenther Hollfelder, who has a "buy" recommendation on Siemens shares, said the acquisition did not appear overly expensive at a valuation of 18.5 times operating profit.

ACTIVIST SHAREHOLDER SUPPORT

Shares in Mentor Graphics jumped 18.5 percent to $36.37 in early U.S. trading, while Siemens was 1.1 percent higher by 1435 GMT.

Mentor Graphics has been under pressure since activist hedge fund Elliott Management Corp reported an 8.1 percent stake in the company in September and said its shares were deeply undervalued.

Elliott said on Monday it supported the deal and saw it as "great outcome" for Mentor Graphics' shareholders and customers.

People familiar with the matter had flagged the planned deal to Reuters, saying Siemens would pay $4.5 billion to $4.6 billion for Mentor Graphics, which competes with Synopsys and Cadence.

Siemens said last week that it planned a public listing of its $15 billion healthcare business, which pushed its shares to a 16-year high as investors hoped for an injection of capital to boost its valuation while funding new investments.

Siemens said it expected the acquisition to add to its earnings per share within three years and to lift earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) by more than 100 million euros ($107.21 million) within four years.

About half of the earnings boost will come from revenue synergies and the other half from lower costs, including from some job cuts, Siemens CFO Thomas said.

The deal will boost its software revenue by about a third from 3.3 billion euros, to around 6 percent of group revenue.

Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan advised Siemens on the transaction, which is expected to close in the second quarter of 2017. Bank of America advised Mentor Graphics.

($1 = 0.9327 euros)

(Additional reporting by Liana Baker in San Francisco and Michael Flaherty in New York; Editing by Keith Weir)

]]>* Tata Motors board to meet on Monday to discuss Q2 results

* Mistry ousted as Tata Sons chairman in board coup lastmonth

* Tata drags shareholders of group cos into fight againstMistry

* Mistry tried to streamline corporate governance at Tata

By Aditi Shah and Abhirup Roy

MUMBAI, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Tata Motors, owner ofJaguar Land Rover and makers of India's cheapest car, will onMonday become the latest piece of the Tata empire to be draggedinto a battle over its future, in a test case for parent TataSons' efforts to tighten control.

The $100 billion Tata group has been mired in a public spatwith former holding company chairman Cyrus Mistry since lastmonth, when he was abruptly ousted from the top job - anacrimonious tussle that has revived debate around India'scorporate governance and Tata's complex structure.

Removing him from individual group companies, however, hasbeen trickier, and Mistry is still at the helm of several keyTata boards, including Tata Motors, whose board meets on Monday,and Tata Steel - among the best known units of thesprawling salt-to-software group.

"Tata Motors ... generates a substantial profit andrevenues, so it is important for Tatas to have control over theboard," said Shriram Subramanian, managing director of InGovernResearch Services, a firm advising institutional investors.

Tata on Thursday wrenched Mistry out of Tata ConsultancyServices (TCS), 73 percent controlled by the group andthe conglomerate's star performer. But it has struggled withother subsidiaries where ownership is closer to 30 percent.

The board of Tata Motors will meet later on Monday toconsider second-quarter earnings before those are reported laterin the day. Directors of Tata Global Beverages, whichco-owns and runs Starbucks coffee stores across India,meet on Tuesday.

If the Tata Motors board does not oust Mistry, Tata Sonswill have to turn to shareholder meetings. Tata Sons has alreadycalled for extraordinary general meetings across its companiesto remove Mistry as a director, including Indian Hotels Co, Tata Chemicals Ltd and Tata Motors.

Tata Sons has blamed Mistry's abrupt exit on what it calledbreach of trust and poor performance, accusing him of erodingshareholder value. It has also said Mistry tried to reduce therole of Tata Sons, controlled by a series of charitable trusts.

Mistry has argued he tried to create internal barriers forbetter governance - a move that would reduce Tata trusts'involvement in operational issues of group companies, which hesaid should be controlled by their own boards of directors.

The Tata trusts collectively own about two thirds of TataSons.

"A philanthropy running a commercial business creates itsown paradoxes," said Institutional Investor Advisory Services, aproxy advisory, in a note about the feud.

Tata Sons on Sunday said it was "crucially important" forthe board members, including independent directors, to considerthe future of Tata companies and its stakeholders. A spokesmandeclined to comment further.

]]>MUMBAI - Tata Sons, holding firm of India's $100-billion salt-to-software Tata conglomerate, launched a broadside on Thursday against its ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry, criticising his performance and removing him as head of the group's flagship business.

In a nine-page statement, Tata accused Mistry of trying to take control of one of Tata's units and creating distance between the promoter, Tata Sons, and its group companies.

It also blamed him for nearly causing losses and eroding shareholder value.

Sources in Mistry's camp dubbed the Tata Sons' criticisms as "fallacious" and said they reflect "desperation."

The war of words between the two sides has escalated, as Tata attempts to convince the boards of Tata group companies, which it does not have majority stakes in, that it was justified in ousting Mistry as chairman of the conglomerate last month.

The Tata Sons board has already suffered two major setbacks, as the board of Indian Hotels last week, and that of Tata Chemicals on Thursday, both backed Mistry, saying he would remain chair of those group companies.

Tata Sons on Thursday axed Mistry as chair of its main cash cow Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), however, as it owns a stake of over 70 percent in that company.

The corporate power struggle is set to continue over coming days as Mistry remains chairman of other key Tata companies like Tata Steel and Tata Motors, whose boards are set to meet soon.

"It was fair expectation of Tata Sons that Mr. Mistry would gracefully resign from the boards of other Tata companies," the group said in its statement, adding that his refusal to step down went against Tata's values and ethos.

Mistry's office did not respond to an emailed request seeking comment.

Mistry was axed as chair of Tata Sons in a boardroom coup last month, with family patriarch Ratan Tata brought back to helm the company temporarily.

Since then the camps have traded barbs on a regular basis, leading to a drop in share prices of listed Tata entities and sparking concern among shareholders and other stakeholders.

DIVIDEND DECLINES

Tata Sons said on Thursday it had received queries from across the globe about its removal of Mistry as Tata Sons chair, and offered an explanation to provide the "desired perspective" behind the decision.

The group has criticised Mistry for his inability to turn around loss-making units during his four-year term, instead continuing to blame them as "legacy hot spots" and writing off huge amounts which have also not resolved the problem.

The company would have shown operating losses over the past three years, but for dividends from its flagship firm TCS, Tata Sons said, adding that "significant dependence" on TCS was a source of concern for its board.

Expenses, other than interest on debt, more than doubled to 1.8 billion rupees over the same period and impairment provisions have jumped to 24 billion rupees from 2 billion rupees, "indicating inability to stem falling values," it said.

Sources close to Mistry said Tata Sons used selective data in its representation. Mistry has also blamed Ratan Tata for some of the company's biggest debacles and alleged failures in corporate governance at Tata Sons and some group companies.

"ULTERIOR MOTIVE"

Tata Sons has blamed Mistry for "consciously dismantling" the group's existing management structure, thereby reducing the control and influence, between Tata group companies and their major shareholder and promoter, Tata Sons.

Tata Sons has alleged that Indian Hotels' support for Mistry shows his "ulterior motive" of trying to gain control of the company with the support of the independent directors.

Sources close to Mistry dismissed the allegation, and said Tata had attempted to fault independent directors for demonstrating their integrity and independence.

Tata have now called an extraordinary general meeting of all Indian Hotels shareholders in an attempt to get Mistry removed as a director from the board.

Tata Sons has made several other allegations against Mistry, including a conflict of interest with Shapoorji Pallonji group, his family firm, which also owns a 18.41 percent stake in Tata Sons.

Sources close to Mistry said that Tata had nothing to show for its allegations of a conflict of interest and called them a smear campaign unworthy of either the Tata group or a response.

($1 = 66.3929 rupees)

]]>* NSE index up 1.83 pct, BSE index 1.69 pct higher

* Financials lead gains

* Realty stocks recoup previous session's losses

By Darshana Sankararaman

Nov 10 (Reuters) - Indian shares rebounded on Thursday,mirroring gains in Asia and on Wall Street overnight, with banksrallying on hopes their coffers would swell as a government planto withdraw larger bank notes sparks increased deposits.

Banks' are expected see improved liquidity when people starttendering cash after the government decided to withdraw 500 and1,000 rupee notes.

The broader NSE index was up 1.83 percent at8,586.25 by 0615 GMT, after losing 6.34 percent on Wednesday.

The benchmark BSE index was 1.69 percent higher at27,714.09.

Financial stocks were among the biggest percentage gainerson the NSE index, as investors welcomed the government'sdecision to withdraw higher denomination banknotes.

State Bank of India surged as much as 8.75 percent.Banks while ICICI Bank Ltd rose 6 percent.

Market sentiment also got a boost after global investorsturned hopeful about generous tax cuts and higher infrastructureand defence spending in the U.S. following Donald Trump'svictory.

"Markets over-reacted yesterday to Trump's win, and inanticipation that Trump is going to be elected, more people hadgone short on the market," said R.K. Gupta, managing director,Taurus Asset Management.

The Nifty Pharma index rose for the secondconsecutive day and was up 2.52 percent on hopes Trumpadministration would avoid tough action on drug pricing.

Meanwhile, the Nifty Realty index recoupedheavy losses recorded on Wednesday and rose as much as 5.65percent. Property developers are seen as one of the mostaffected by the withdrawal of larger bills, given a significantportion of transactions are done in cash.

Among other gainers, Tata Consultancy Services, amajority-owned unit of Tata Sons, rose 1.40 percent after sayingTata Sons had nominated Ishaat Hussain, a director at some Tatacompanies, as interim chair of TCS to replace Cyrus Mistry.

A move to replace Mistry as chairman of TCS had beenanticipated after he was ousted as chairman of Tata Sons in asurprise move last month. (Reporting by Darshana Sankararaman in Bengaluru; Editing byVyas Mohan)

]]>(Repeats story that ran late on Tuesday; no changes to text)

* Strategy document was presented to Tata Sons board -source

* Designed with Tata investment principles in mind - source

* Planned to more than double group's value by 2025

* And raise dividend payout ratio to 25 pct

* Vision was to focus on stable, consumer-facing ventures

By Aditi Shah and Euan Rocha

NEW DELHI, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Before he was ousted aschairman of Tata Sons, Cyrus Mistry presented the board with aroadmap to boost profitability, squeeze out more money forshareholders and more than double the Indian conglomerate'smarket value in 10 years, people familiar with the plans toldReuters.

In his Vision 2025 strategy document, which ran to more than30 pages, Mistry planned to target 10 percent annual growth andboost the group's value to $350 billion - more than doublingTata Sons' 66 percent stake to over $200 billion.

The strategy was outlined to the Tata Sons board - and tofamily patriarch Ratan Tata - three times in 18 months, with thelast presentation just months before Mistry's ouster, the peoplesaid. Tata has since taken over as interim chairman.

The strategy, one of the people said, was designed with the150-year-old firm's investment principles in mind, with a focuson the long-term, entering pioneering industries, and holding acontrolling stake in ventures.

It aimed also to raise the return on capital employed to 15percent, and more than double the dividend payout ratio to up to25 percent by 2025.

In a bruising, public row since Mistry was dismissed aschairman last month, some have criticised his lackof a long-term plan for the group. He remains chairman of somegroup companies including Tata Steel and Tata Motors.

A spokesman for Tata Sons said "a 5-year plan was presentedin September, and was not found suitable."

Mistry's office did not respond to a request for comment.

'LEGACY HOTSPOTS'

Mistry was also criticised by some for his decision to sellwhat they felt were Tata family jewels, such as Tata Steel'sloss-making Europe unit.

Despite an outside reputation as a ruthless businessmanfocused on profit, one of the sources said he spent more thantwo years trying to fix such legacy issues, including visitingthe Welsh steelworks at Port Talbot to talk to union workers.

Mistry initiated merger talks with Germany's ThyssenKrupp in an effort to salvage the steel business, eventhough it faced high UK energy costs, taxes and a costly pensionscheme.

"If Tata Steel is able to merge with ThyssenKrupp it will beable to create a robust new company," the person said, notingtalks with the German firm have slowed amid Tata's managementupheaval.

Mistry also sought to deal with other "legacy hotspots" suchas Indian Hotels Co, Tata Teleservices and the $1,500Nano car.

"The strategy was focused on reducing the dependence on morecyclical businesses, and focusing more on more stable, consumerdriven businesses," said another of the sources.

It made little sense to invest more in the Nano as the carwould not have been able to meet stricter safety rules due tocome into force in two years' time, the person noted.

One growth area that Mistry planned to develop further wasfinancial services, such as an insurance venture, with a plannedannual growth rate of 20 percent. Another focus area was TataGlobal Beverages.

(Reporting by Aditi Shah and Euan Rocha; Editing by IanGeoghegan)

]]>* Strategy document was presented to Tata Sons board -source

* Designed with Tata investment principles in mind - source

* Planned to more than double group's value by 2025

* And raise dividend payout ratio to 25 pct

* Vision was to focus on stable, consumer-facing ventures

By Aditi Shah and Euan Rocha

NEW DELHI, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Before he was ousted aschairman of Tata Sons, Cyrus Mistry presented the board with aroadmap to boost profitability, squeeze out more money forshareholders and more than double the Indian conglomerate'smarket value in 10 years, people familiar with the plans toldReuters.

In his Vision 2025 strategy document, which ran to more than30 pages, Mistry planned to target 10 percent annual growth andboost the group's value to $350 billion - more than doublingTata Sons' 66 percent stake to over $200 billion.

The strategy was outlined to the Tata Sons board - and tofamily patriarch Ratan Tata - three times in 18 months, with thelast presentation just months before Mistry's ouster, the peoplesaid. Tata has since taken over as interim chairman.

The strategy, one of the people said, was designed with the150-year-old firm's investment principles in mind, with a focuson the long-term, entering pioneering industries, and holding acontrolling stake in ventures.

It aimed also to raise the return on capital employed to 15percent, and more than double the dividend payout ratio to up to25 percent by 2025.

In a bruising, public row since Mistry was dismissed aschairman last month, some have criticised his lackof a long-term plan for the group. He remains chairman of somegroup companies including Tata Steel and Tata Motors.

A spokesman for Tata Sons said "a 5-year plan was presentedin September, and was not found suitable."

Mistry's office did not respond to a request for comment.

'LEGACY HOTSPOTS'

Mistry was also criticised by some for his decision to sellwhat they felt were Tata family jewels, such as Tata Steel'sloss-making Europe unit.

Despite an outside reputation as a ruthless businessmanfocused on profit, one of the sources said he spent more thantwo years trying to fix such legacy issues, including visitingthe Welsh steelworks at Port Talbot to talk to union workers.

Mistry initiated merger talks with Germany's ThyssenKrupp in an effort to salvage the steel business, eventhough it faced high UK energy costs, taxes and a costly pensionscheme.

"If Tata Steel is able to merge with ThyssenKrupp it will beable to create a robust new company," the person said, notingtalks with the German firm have slowed amid Tata's managementupheaval.

Mistry also sought to deal with other "legacy hotspots" suchas Indian Hotels Co, Tata Teleservices and the $1,500Nano car.

"The strategy was focused on reducing the dependence on morecyclical businesses, and focusing more on more stable, consumerdriven businesses," said another of the sources.

It made little sense to invest more in the Nano as the carwould not have been able to meet stricter safety rules due tocome into force in two years' time, the person noted.

One growth area that Mistry planned to develop further wasfinancial services, such as an insurance venture, with a plannedannual growth rate of 20 percent. Another focus area was TataGlobal Beverages.

Nov 7 (Reuters) - IT services provider Cognizant TechnologySolutions Corp said on Monday some senior managers mayhave participated in or failed to take action to prevent makingabout $5 million in "potentially improper payments" primarilyrelated to real estate and procurement in India.

Cognizant, whose shares were up 4 percent at $54.18 in earlytrading, said the material weakness existed as of Dec. 31, 2015,and continues to exist in subsequent interim periods.

The company also said its ongoing internal investigation hadidentified a material weakness in its internal control overfinancial reporting. (http://bit.ly/2fTgrPb)

If the payments are limited to $5 million, this wouldprobably be well below investors' worst case, Cowen and Coanalysts said in a research note.

Cognizant said in September it was conducting an internalinvestigation into possible violations of U.S. anti-corruptpractices laws related to payments in India.

The company also said that the people possibly involved withthe payments are no longer with the company or in a seniormanagement position.

The company said in September that President Gordon Coburnhad resigned, giving no reason for his departure, and that hewould be replaced by Rajeev Mehta, the head of IT services.

Cognizant said in a regulatory filing on Monday that it hadnot maintained an "effective tone at the top".

"We will continue the investigation until we are confidentthat we have tracked it all down," Chief Financial Officer KarenMcLoughlin said on a conference call, adding that it was "earlydays" in the investigation.

Cognizant is based in Teaneck, New Jersey but aboutthree-quarters of its employees are in India.

The company narrowed its forecast for 2016 adjusted profitto $3.38-$3.41 per share from $3.32 to $3.44. Analysts wereexpecting $3.37, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Cognizant also trimmed the top-end of its full-year revenueforecast for 2016, saying it now expected $13.47 billion-$13.53billion, compared with its prior forecast of $13.47billion-$13.6 billion. This is the third time Cognizant hastrimmed its full-year revenue guidance.

The company reported a better-than-expected profit, helpedby demand for cloud services from the financial and healthcareindustries.

Cognizant's net income rose to $444.4 million, or 73 centsper share, in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, from $397.2million, or 65 cents per share, a year earlier.

The company's total revenue rose 8.4 percent to $3.45billion.

Excluding items, the company earned 86 cents per share,beating estimates of 84 cents per share. (Reporting by Anya George Tharakan and Rishika Sadam inBengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)